Earthlight

2019 was a busy year for the British one-man atmo-black / blackgaze act Misertus with three album releases "Daylight", "Coil" and "Outland". By contrast, this year 2020 has seen just one album "Earthlight" come out among shorter releases and the earlier three albums reissued as a compilation. Like those recordings "Earthlight" is a grand work of radiant wall-of-sound noisy blackgaze and a more melodic ambient black metal style. Rapid-fire blast-beat percussion, harsh frizzly vocals that blend into the fiery blizzard-like noise guitars, and shining synthesiser wash (which may change into defined melodies) are part of a highly aggressive assault on listeners' senses. At the same time the darkness is possessed of a warm, sometimes even clear and gorgeously delicate beauty, and no matter how dark the atmosphere, the lyrics and the situation may be, light, hope and even redemption are not far away.

The order of the songs on the album suggests a narrative starting with downfall or a transforming revelation from which slow upward struggle is the way out, with the protagonist becoming aware of his/her place in the cosmos and only then being able to find and achieve balance and a new outlook. Salvation may be the next stage before inner peace is attained. The album starts on a downbeat mood with "Fallen, Risen" and the style of that song, rising quickly from that low mood to one that seems more optimistic and hopeful, sets the model for much of the rest of the recording. Layers of speedy percussion, a mishmash of dry rasping voices, warbly tremolo guitar riffs that have a bell-like tone, a dark setting and a constant uncompromising aggression form Misertus' core palette of post-BM elements from which songs are structured. A downside of this is that for many listeners the songs won't sound very different from each other and often the only thing that might distinguish one track from the others is a brief lead guitar solo, a particular riff that repeats or a synth melody, if listeners pay close attention. The mood very rarely changes within songs or from one song to the next.

With the way the songs are arranged to form a narrative and all sounding very similar, listening to the album as a complete work inviting immersion into a rich and layered hypnotic sonic universe rather than as a set of individual songs seems to be the preference - but then the songs are on the short side, usually about 5 to 6 minutes long, which doesn't encourage deep listening. The beginnings and endings of songs tend to be abrupt and this can break listener concentration.

I did try listening to this album at least three times but I just didn't find it immersive at all - it's too busy and dense, and doesn't allow enough space within tracks for listeners to be able to savour and appreciate what they are hearing before they are rushed to another part of the Misertus universe which turns out to be the same as the last part. With nearly the entire album going at the same fast speed there are very few real highs and lows on the album. When it's all over, listeners might wonder what actually happened as there isn't much about "Earthlight" that is memorable.

It's a pity that "Earthlight" doesn't match previous work that Misertus has done. Hopefully Misertus man Tomas will take more time and care in creating truly hypnotic soundscape works on future albums.